I'd built the door on the plan, not realizing that the window wasn't to scale until it was put into the fuselage, and it didn't look right. I'd've recovered it anyway due to the nasty wrinkles.

Much noodleing to do on the fuselage...

I really love reading this thread
Robert

Easier to cover the fuselage without the brass strut points, but I think it best to assemble the uc with the uc support struts at this point. The built up areas around the strut points were covered to give the sheet doculam better adhesion there.

Nice project!

As a 9 year old kid, my dad took me to Detroit City Airport. He took a rare day off work and we went down there because the EAA was flying their replica across the country on the 50th anniversary of Charles' flight in 1977.
We watched the Spirit fly in and land, and taxi to the terminal. A car pulled up, and this little old lady got out of the back. I had no idea who she was, but my dad took me over to say HI to her. I'll never forget that she gave me a stick of gum, and asked what I thought about the Spirit. After we said hello and walked around the Spirit a bit, my dad told me that she was Mrs. Lindbergh :O I had met the widow of an aviation legend....never forget it. Somewhere I have a photo of my dad standing next to the rudder .....memories live a long time!

Mark

Originally Posted by mrittinger

Nice project!

As a 9 year old kid, my dad took me to Detroit City Airport. He took a rare day off work and we went down there because the EAA was flying their replica across the country on the 50th anniversary of Charles' flight in 1977.
We watched the Spirit fly in and land, and taxi to the terminal. A car pulled up, and this little old lady got out of the back. I had no idea who she was, but my dad took me over to say HI to her. I'll never forget that she gave me a stick of gum, and asked what I thought about the Spirit. After we said hello and walked around the Spirit a bit, my dad told me that she was Mrs. Lindbergh :O I had met the widow of an aviation legend....never forget it. Somewhere I have a photo of my dad standing next to the rudder .....memories live a long time!

Mark

A very cool story! I had my first plane ride at the Detroit City Airport.

Me too, in a Ford Trimotor at one of the City Airshows! Too cool. I can still recall that Spirit taxiing up the the terminal. Mrs Lindbergh was really nice too. Wish I had known the significance as a kid though!

This is a nice build, I'm curious how she'll do with no dihedral....
Mrk

Originally Posted by mrittinger

Me too, in a Ford Trimotor at one of the City Airshows! Too cool. I can still recall that Spirit taxiing up the the terminal. Mrs Lindbergh was really nice too. Wish I had known the significance as a kid though!

This is a nice build, I'm curious how she'll do with no dihedral....
Mrk

The Fok DRI has no dihedral, she'll fly on quite a way under calm conditions before requiring correction to stay straight on. I expect the Spirit will need constant attention in the air, flown to the ground, like most WWI models.

A high wing airplane with no dihedral is normally quite stable because of the so called pendulum effect. Look what happened to Lindburg when he fell asleep while crossing the Atlantic. The plane simply entered a shallow turn and gradually spiralled down towards the ocean. I bet you will be very pleased with how this airplane will fly.

Larry

Originally Posted by Lnagel

A high wing airplane with no dihedral is normally quite stable because of the so called pendulum effect. Look what happened to Lindburg when he fell asleep while crossing the Atlantic. The plane simply entered a shallow turn and gradually spiralled down towards the ocean. I bet you will be very pleased with how this airplane will fly.

Larry

My Guillows 'conversion' flies very nice in calm air and even handles wind quite well due to a relatively high loading. Turbulence is no fun at all The wing not only has zero dihedral but also zero washout, and no taper, sweep, nor thinning either. The plane is neutrally stable in roll. My +50% ailerons enable good control but it does require full attention when flying it, and either rudder experience or ail>rud mix is a must.

I'm not sure how much 'pendulum' effect is helping. My GWS DC3 was more stable than my NYP. I built a smaller low wing sport plane with a 'Hershey bar' wing like the NYP. Though way more responsive it seems about the same in roll stability.

Progress is slow at this point. Been insulating windows, putting up X-mas lights...

At a good flying CG for my little Guillows version, I found the wheels to be very nearly right below the CG. I ended up lengthening the rear legs of the lower "A" arms. Its not scale but it sure is easier to land on typical RC fields.

Your model is larger so should roll comparatively easier and not nose over. Also if your wing loading is a bit lower you may be able to land at a higher AoA which effectively moves the CG further behind the wheels.

Originally Posted by Grejen

At a good flying CG for my little Guillows version, I found the wheels to be very nearly right below the CG. I ended up lengthening the rear legs of the lower "A" arms. Its not scale but it sure is easier to land on typical RC fields.

Your model is larger so should roll comparatively easier and not nose over. Also if your wing loading is a bit lower you may be able to land at a higher AoA which effectively moves the CG further behind the wheels.

This model won't be exactly scale... enough so that it will look the part, stand off ish, anyway. The plans indicate the cg to be behind the wheels enough, the Aerodrome RC wheels are a bit larger than scale. which ought to have her roll along easier.
What is AoA?

Angle of attack.

Generally , if you draw a line from the CG down , at about 15 degrees forward, thats where your wheels shold end up....on taildragger anyhow.